Decompressive (cooling rarefaction) shock in optically thin radiative plasma

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2001 Jul;64(1 Pt 2):016416. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.64.016416. Epub 2001 Jun 27.

Abstract

It is shown that the decompressive shock, i.e., a shock where the pressure behind the front is smaller than the pressure ahead of it, is possible in a radiative plasma; this is in contrast to the situation in classic gas dynamics. An example of a steady state decompressive shock wave for a simple, but realistic model for radiative losses is presented. It is shown that it satisfies the Landau stability criteria.